FC_2024v7n1

Field Crop 2024, Vol.7, No.1, 17-26 http://cropscipublisher.com/index.php/fc 23 Using economic quantification methods, researchers will assess the impact of the sugarcane industry on ecosystem services such as water resources, soil quality, biodiversity and climate change. In addition, they will analyze the social impact of the industry on local communities, including in terms of employment opportunities, quality of life and social balance. Through these analyses, researchers will provide policymakers and decision-makers with the information they need to develop sustainable management policies for the sugarcane industry that minimize its negative impacts while promoting its positive impacts. Brazil's sugarcane industry is rapidly expanding the area of farmed land, leading to changes in land use patterns. In terms of sugarcane harvesting, there are two main different methods: one is the original mechanized harvesting system, which uses mechanical equipment to harvest, avoiding the process of burning the sugarcane fields before harvesting; the other is the manual burning harvesting system, which The sugarcane is first burned, then cut by hand and finally collected using a conventional loader. It is estimated that mechanized harvesting accounts for 89.7% of the country's harvest, while manual harvesting by burning accounts for 10.3% (Silva Araújo et al., 2023). This study collected samples near a native forest area (about 500 m away from sugarcane fields) to study the impact of land use changes on soil physical and mechanical properties. Soil samples from sugarcane fields were collected at different depth layers (0.000.10 m, 0.100.20 m, 0.20~0.30 m), and the sampling location was about 0.20 m away from the vegetation rows. A total of 120 sampling points were collected in the burnt harvesting area (1.20 ha) and 121 sampling points in the mechanized harvesting area (1.21 ha), with sampling grids every 10 m used in all areas. Within each geographical reference point, its elevation was measured using a total station (Silva Araújo et al., 2023) (Figure 2). Figure 2 Oxisol sampling network under sugarcane crops (Silva Araújo et al., 2023) Note: A: Burned harvest area (n=120), B: Mechanized harvest area (n=121) (Silva Araújo et al., 2023) The increasing use of machinery, tools, management and transportation in sugarcane production, including vehicles with greater load capacity, has also led to adverse soil impacts, particularly problems with soil compaction. Research shows that as primary forest areas are converted into sugarcane fields, agricultural areas are increasingly affected by compaction problems, which has attracted great concern (Toledo et al., 2021). This is because mechanized operations often ignore changes in soil moisture content during the process from land preparation to harvesting, and the problem of soil compaction is becoming increasingly serious as humidity conditions increase. Soil compaction negatively affects sugarcane productivity by changing the physical properties and structure of the soil, creating an unfavorable environment for sugarcane root development. Currently, one of the main problems faced by mechanized harvesting of sugarcane is additional soil compaction (Cavalcanti et al., 2020). But unlike

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